Win A $25 Trader Joe’s Gift Card

Trader Joe's in Silver Lake. Photo courtesy of Yelp.com

I have been shopping at the same Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake for years and somehow never knew about their weekly drawing for a $25 gift card.

All you have to do is bring your own bag, or basically not use their paper or disposable bags when you check out, and the cashier will give you a raffle ticket that enters you into their weekly drawing. I’m not sure if every Trader Joe’s offers this or just my local Silver Lake store, but now that I know, I’m going to be sure to bring my own bag from now on.

Do you know of any other stores offering a similar incentive? Drop a comment here and let us know.

From my perspective, the program is not advertised very conspicuously. At least not in the Silver Lake store. The only reason I found out about it is that I just happened to only buy one item last night and didn’t need a bag, so the cashier offered me an entry into the weekly drawing. However, every single other time I have shopped there, which is weekly, if not multiple times a week sometimes, no one has EVER mentioned it. I didn’t see a sign or anything. Maybe I’m not being very observant, but it just blows my mind that not once did an employee mention it to me as they were filling my paper bags with groceries.

I’ve also won the $25 gift card once when it was only offered monthly in Eagle Rock years ago. I think Eagle Rock TJ’s switched to a $20 gift card weekly because people thought it was a scam — at least that’s what one cashier told me. As the woman (with her own bags in front of me) said, “It’s a scam to do the right thing?”

I do have a little more trouble getting the 5 cents back per bag at Target — all the cashiers look at me like I’m nuts despite the fact that there is a prominent sign advertising such on every checkout.

I won a $10 gift card from the TJ’s in Burbank. It seems that each store has it’s own way of doing it: the Toluca Lake TJ’s had been doing it 2x/week, $25 each. The TJ’s here in B’bk was doing it 1x/week @ $25, then switched to 2x/$10, so more people could win.

Signage: somewhere in the store, there will be signs. Near the cashiers, above the cashiers… They are not obvious, but they ARE visible.

Bags-vs-no bags: one time, I bought two bananas and said that I didn’t need a bag (and didn’t have my own). When I asked the cashier if I could have a ticket since I didn’t use a bag, he said no, you only get a ticket if you BRING a bag! So, I always have some sort of bag in my car. It doesn’t matter what size, either: I once had one of those tiny little plastic bags that Taco Bell would put a single burrito in. I bought my “usual” two bananas. The cashier gave me my ticket.

I can tell you and assure everyone that the raffle, as we call it is not a conspiracy theory. My store pulls 1 name per week for a $25 gift card and we take pictures of the winners to make sure everyone believes that we actually have a raffle.

I have had customers come through my line before and claimed they have won twice! To everyone that hasn’t won yet keep trying! I always suggest to save up your tickets and put them all in at once then you will have a better chance of winning. Or if you really want to be dirty about it just buy the raffle tickets that TJ’s buys… they will be none the wiser.

Diana, the checker should have given you a raffle ticket if that happens again just say your purse is your bag.